For You
by jerna.collins
Summary: In which Juvia gives gifts to her only beloved and she receives presents, too but (maybe) not from Gray. Gruvia


**FOR YOU**

A Gruvia Fanfiction

**Disclaimer: **FT belongs to Hiro Mashima

**December 1:**

The water mage has been up and about very early in the morning, feeling rather obliged to give her Gray-sama a gift every day until Christmas if this means this will be once and for all one of the many and thousands of ways of her to show how much she loves him. Unconditionally. This poor girl gives love but gets nothing in return. But as old people say, everything we do with our best efforts will harvest an award someday. And the water mage strongly believes in this.

Like a robot, she gets up from her bed and walks toward the drawer and gets her sewing kit. She will give him things that have been significant to their CURRENT one-sided relationship that may make him realize that she remembers everything from top till the very end. She hopes he could picture out every single detail in his head, too.

Today, she will make him a teru-teru bozu.

* * *

**December 8:**

Juvia has sewn some teru-teru bozus since the first day of December and she has been contemplating whether to give them to Gray or not.

Sometimes, the water mage's decisions might seem spontaneous and out of impulsivity and her so called "instinct-on-love" but she really does think things over, you know. She just has that funny and unplanned façade but she has been thinking over giving Gray a gift for a few days now.

What if he'll throw it away?

What if he won't accept it?

What if he'll be a jerk about it and give it back to her? Man, then that would be very tragic.

But these things shouldn't matter, should they? What's important is that Juvia will just give him gifts even if he won't give her anything in return—not that she's expecting but there's a possibility, right?

They've been through a lot and it might seem likely that he will at least give her a little token of appreciation because of her loyalty and willingness to sacrifice her life if it means he'll live.

She brushes these thoughts aside and puts in mind that her goal this month is to give gifts to Gray NOT BECAUSE SHE WANTS ATTENTION OR SOMETHING IN RETURN but because this is rather like the only thing she could do to thank him for taking away the rain, for dying for her and for simply letting her love him without this guy pushing her away.

Juvia stands up and changes her clothes, calculating in her mind that by now, Gray must be in the guild. All she has to do is just go to his apartment and leave it on his doorstep.

There's no need for her to wear something thicker for this season because her outfit for the whole year seems to be designed for winter.

She opens the door of her room in Fairy Hills and quickly walks toward Gray's apartment and thank God her stalking helped her find out where he lives. She slowly and gently puts down the teru teru bozu and leaves. She has to go back to the dorm to take a bath before going to the guild.

And when she stands in front of the door of her room in Fairy Hills, she sees a silver butterfly pin accompanied by a freshly made ice butterfly flying about it.

Gray could only create hammers, cannons, and weapons out of ice but this; the butterfly and the gift is certainly from Lyon Vastia.

* * *

**December 14:**

She has been like this for a few days now.

She'll go to the guild, to the park, to town, in her room; everywhere just clutching the butterfly pin she found on her doorstep a couple of days ago that went along with an actual ice-made butterfly.

She is very certain it's from Lyon.

And the only thing that's been circling her mind is: WHY?

Why would he want to give her that? Why would he give her that when he isn't interested in her anymore? Why would he give her that when he isn't interested in her anymore and hasn't been making a move since the ball after the dragon attack? Why would he give her that when he isn't interested in her anymore and hasn't been making a move after the dragon attack—that same time when he realized that he was never the one for Juvia?

Why?

Is he still in love with her? If so, why didn't he just swipe her off her feet after the so called "rejection" from Gray?

And Lyon got the nerves to give the water mage a gift. A freaking butterfly clip. How the hell did he even know about this? How did he know that the butterfly means something to Juvia?

Lyon has been very sneaky _and _spooky again. This is not good.

But whatever. When she sees him, she'll just thank him anyway. She might be freaked out with Lyon breathing over her neck randomly sometimes, but she really can't be that rude not to thank him.

And Juvia was never rude.

She lies on her bed staring into space, with the clip in hand.

She knows she's so lame for ever getting paranoid over such little matter. But it just doesn't feel right with the white haired mage having knowledge about the significance of the butterfly in Juvia's life.

She angles her head to the right and finds herself staring directly at something on top of her table near the window: a lunch box.

She busied herself cooking earlier this morning for Gray. It's the same food she once gave him when they were just remaking Fairy Tail because it has been wrecked—credits to Gajeel.

Juvia has been meaning to give that lunch to Gray but he suspected it was something poisonous and such so Natsu tasted it. And almost left nothing for no one.

Well, knowing that Gray sometimes goes home during lunch to sleep or whatever, she stands up and delivers the food to his apartment.

She places the food at his doorstep and rings the bell.

She hears someone's pair of feet pounding down the stairs—which is clearly from Gray's and she dashes off back to Fairy Hills.

When she arrives, there is a Caramade Frank near her room with another ice-made butterfly hovering over it.

She feels a tingle of fear down her spine knowing that Lyon seems to have knowledge about every bit of information about her.

She feels being stripped naked of privacy to people she doesn't want to find out so much things about her.

This is certainly not good.

* * *

**December 19:**

Juvia wakes up early in the morning to go to the beach carrying a bottle of water. Guess what? It's empty.

And what she's going to do with it is going to be revealed to you later on as you keep on reading the story—which I hope you still do and I hope I'm not boring.

She could feel the cold wind rushing through and a normal person would be chattering their jaws off because of so much iciness this season. It's freaking winter for Mavis' sakes and Juvia is out here on the beach that seems like a vast desert of white, the waters icy surfaces that asks to be skated upon.

The water mage isn't cold at all.

She walks to the once blue waters, with the sand now layered up in snow crunching beneath her boots. Winter season sure is hella hardcore in Magnolia.

She looks at a complete sheet of ice. She takes in a deep breath and she produces hot water from her own body and attacks the ice to make a hole, enough to fit in a water bottle.

The hard surface buts smokes so she takes in another deep breath and shoots boiling water—which, need I remind you: will burn and probably peel some skin off when in direct contact—at the ice and it melts.

She kneels down, but although the snow is cold against her knees, she still feels normal due to the fact that she adjusted her water body temperature. Being a mage sure comes in handy, doesn't it?

She uncaps the bottle and dips it on the water and she fills it up. After which, she closes the bottle and stands up and returns to Fairy Hills.

As soon as she's home, she places the bottle on top of the table while she writes a note that she's going to send to Gray together with her today's gift.

After it, she yet again walks toward his apartment.

In the middle of her walk, she realizes that there is no need to rush anything. Gray will just receive it anyway and who is she kidding? She's getting nothing in return.

Isn't it funny that she been doing this shit for other people and then she goes home and she has nothing. NOTHING. But it gets less hilarious once the person doing it is willing to give his or her all in the name of love.

Ah, love—this little word, a deep aching feeling that makes everybody desperate to do even the stupidest things in order to achieve it from the people they're supposedly unconditionally tiring themselves for.

Juvia looks at the shops now hinted with a little touch of Christmas.

Now, her beloved's doorstep is drawing near and the beat of her heart gets louder and also at the same time, she feels sinking in the depths of being; knowing that Gray would never acknowledge her.

Even in the guild these past few days, he would stop talking to her and sometimes, she just really and red-handedly caught him staring at her but when she tried eyeing him directly straight towards his black orbs, he looked away and continued talking to Natsu or to whomever it is in the guild he's always talking to.

It's like he's completely warped himself together in this season, he had melted himself with winter and they become one: cold.

She stands in front of his door now quite longer than she usually takes. Before, she would just place her gift on the ground and dash back to Fairy Hills. But now, for some unidentified reason, she lingers.

She doesn't even flinch or run or hide when she hears a pair of footsteps climbing down the stairs.

It looks like Gray is just about to head to the guild.

Juvia just stands there, with her water bottle and note in hand.

The door opens with Gray Fullbuster standing directly in front of a teary-eyed Juvia Lockser.

She doesn't know what to do and she feels so stupid for not leaving the gift at his doorstep.

She extends her arms and hands it to him—the bottle together with the note.

Gray accepts them but his mind is running thoughts about why on Earth would she be crying? Who made her cry? But before he could ask her, she runs away.

He carries the water bottle and the piece of paper inside his apartment and he settles on the couch. He opens up the paper and reads the note:

_THIS WATER IS FROM THE BEACH. JUVIA JUST GAVE YOU A PIECE OF UR BECAUSE UR IS ONE WITH THE WATER NOW—SHE FLOWS THERE PEACEFULLY. SHE BECAME ICE AND MELTED DOWN THE STREAM AND NOW SHE FLOWS ON THE BEACH LIKE THE BLOOD OF THE OCEAN; THE HEART OF THE DEEP BLUE WATERS._

"Thank you," is what Gray could only repeat saying.

Juvia runs toward Fairy Hills as fast as she could when she hits someone hard on the chest. She looks up to see Lyon Vastia.

"Why are you crying, Juvia-chan?" he asks.

She just pushes past him.

The only thoughts in her head now is "WHY?"

Why does she keep on giving Gray things? Why does she keep on doing things for him which he even cannot acknowledge or have something in return to give her and she just feels empty? Why does she keeps on doing this even when she's already hurt?

She opens the door of the dorm and quickly climbs the stairs.

On her doorstep awaits a single white daisy.

EVEN LYON NOW KNOWS THAT SHE LOVES FLOWERS BECAUSE IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH BUTTERLFLIES—NOT TO MENTION THERE IS ANOTHER ICE BUTTERFLY FLYING ABOUT THE DAMN FLOWER.

She doesn't even pick it up. She enters her room and cry from all the frustration.

When will he start returning every piece of herself she lost in the middle of fully devoting herself to him?

* * *

**December 23:**

Gray was shocked about what Juvia did to him a few days ago. She gave him a water bottle—sure, it's not awkward for her to give him random gifts anymore—but involving her crying?

For a few nights straight, Gray had tried to think of a possible someone that might hurt Juvia.

"Who the fuck would that bastard be?" he'd wonder out loud in the middle of the night, as he is unable to sleep.

Why, of course he can't.

Seeing someone who always seems so happy and joyous and energetic suddenly showing up at your doorstep with tears in their eyes and an unexplainable sadness etched on their face is quite a surprise to a person like Gray. It's because Juvia has always smiled so widely at him and she looks so goofy with it but also a kind of cute.

Sometimes, her smiles were overly wide the ice mage wonders if it's still real or if she's just forcing herself to be happy when he's looking.

Unable to fall asleep in the middle of the night, he stands up and walks down the stairs of his apartment to go to the only person who might give him some piece of advice. He knows he has other alternatives like Erza—but she will probably beat him up with her bare hands this time if he goes to Fairy Hills just to bug her out to talk about Juvia.

So, he'll go to his partner in crime in this little scheme he's been doing since the very first day of December.

He opens the door of his apartment in order to go out but he notices that he's wearing nothing. Though, there's nobody walking on the streets about now, still he's embarrassed. Quite a miracle isn't it—Gray being embarrassed of his glorious nakedness?

He hurriedly climbs back up to his room and grab some clothes.

…

He slowly and silently makes a key of ice and slips it in the door knob. He twists it and ta-da, he's inside.

He switches on the light and squints, while his eyes are adjusting to the light of the living room and without much of a knock, he opens the door.

He sees his childhood rival sprawled on his bed with only his boxers on.

Well, at least he's onto level 99 when it comes to stripping compared to Gray which is on level 100.

His stripping game is just too strong.

He approaches him and he shakes him by the arm. The white haired mage doesn't even flinch.

Gray rolls his eyes and shakes Lyon again violently and first, his eyes fly open and he sits up quickly. He rubs the back of his neck and looks at the dark haired mage who's got dead seriousness in his expression.

"What the fuck was that for?" Lyon asks, a little bothered and also a bit angry.

But oh, he knows that look Gray has in his eyes now. He definitely needs help.

Lyon shakes his head and asks him another question, "What do you need?"

"She cried when she gave me her gift a few days ago and I can't damn sleep," he replies.

Lyon closes his eyes again for a little while and tries to think.

Gray starts to shake his legs, a signal that now his aloof self is currently away replaced with a panicky kind of Gray Fullbuster.

Lyon thinks about it for a few moments; he even hums for a bit while the younger mage wage waits.

"I think you need to talk to her," he finally says. "I'll sleep now. Bye. Go away."

THAT'S IT?! AFTER LIKE FIVE MINUTES OF HIS SILENCE THAT'S THE ONLY THING HE THOUGHT OF AND NOW HE WANTS GRAY GONE?

Seriously?

"Oh, no. Do not sleep yet!" Gray says, trying to shake Lyon awake again.

Lyon all but covers his head with a blanket.

"LYON DON'T YOU DARE DO THIS, YOU BASTARD," Gray says.

"What?! I can't help you right now because I don't know what's going on her mind okay? So, if I were you, just bathe yourself thoroughly because you stink and go up the steps of her apartment and wait for her to come out and you go talk and ask her what's fucking wrong, okay?" the older mage says, annoyed.

"But you know talking is not my thing!" Gray says with panic rising up his chest.

"Want to know what I think? I think she's crying because she thinks I'm the one giving her gifts and that I know EVERYTHING SHE LOVES AND THAT I'M GIVING IT TO HER and I think that makes her sad; receiving gifts from me instead of from you while she's busying herself to give you a damn present HERSELF without anyone to do it for her," he says and pauses. "Confess it to her, already. Wouldn't want to see her with those rainclouds, do you?"

After he says that, he turns his back on Gray and falls instantly asleep.

Gray stands up and walks alone the empty streets and contemplates about certain things.

Will he talk to her? God, if he will; what if he'll chicken out?

But then that image of her comes back in his mind—her pale face turning red, her eyes looking empty and sad and tears rolling down her cheeks.

He should definitely talk to her.

He should, and so, he walks faster than usual back to his apartment and he paces back and forth in the living room rehearsing his lines.

* * *

**December 24:**

Gray hasn't slept the whole night.

As calm as he usually looks, he's actually a nervous madman right now because he has NEVER talked deeply to someone; let alone do a confession.

A few minutes of being alone talking with the mage wouldn't hurt, right? Nothing could go wrong. or maybe there can be. One thing said that's going to be misunderstood or phrased wrongly could result to a disaster.

Gray stands up and gets in the shower and thinks about what Lyon said regarding him being stinky. He knows that the older mage is just kidding around but what if he really smells bad.

God, does he get self-conscious and paranoid today.

Getting a Tsundere up his lazy ass early in the morning just to groom himself in order to be at least decent while confessing something sure is very unusual, eh?

Mavis, help this poor guy out later on.

…

Juvia stretches on her bed, as she is just newly awoken today.

She's been feeling down for a few days already and it increased when she showed up at Gray's doorstep; the moment she shoved her gift to him and he didn't even much uttered to her a single "thank you" and that he didn't even bother to ask what made her freaking cry in the first place.

While after she walked away from his apartment, she bumped into Lyon and the first thing that came out from his mouth was a question whether Juvia was fine and what's wrong.

The thing is: Gray—the man she's been with most of her missions; the man she'd die for; the man who changed her and helped her become a better person; the man that pulled her from the darkness that surrounded her; the man that she's performed a difficult combo attack with; a man who died for her—didn't even ask her what's wrong.

And then Lyon—this guy that's just been _fanboying _after her since they first met was able to formulate that question the moment she bumped into him at the busy streets of Magnolia.

This is all so twisted up.

…

Gray walks toward Fairy Hills with his heart pounding; the words he rehearsed last night seemingly circulating in his head. Silly man doesn't know that the moment he'll try to start confessing, words he memorized will abandon his mind.

He sees the dorm growing bigger with each step as he is coming nearer and nearer to it.

After that, he stands outside, beside the door and waits for a certain water mage to come out.

…

He isn't counting but he is sure that thirty minutes had already passed and there is still no Juvia Lockser bolting out the door.

…

He's into one hour of waiting and still nothing happens.

…

Juvia lies on her bed and it seems like she doesn't want to leave her room. She'll probably just return to Fairy Tail tomorrow.

Perhaps no one will ever wonder or notice that she's not around.

She feels like crying right now and she knows this may seem overdramatic of her but, why, isn't she allowed to feel something?

…

Although, he concluded a few moments ago that he is probably going to pee his pants—if he would still wear any—while he talks to Juvia, the black haired mage wants to see her right now. Stupid as it may seem, but Gray is now panicking. But HE WANTS TO TALK TO HER NOW.

Maybe she doesn't want to go out today which is very odd because this only seldom happens.

Might as well sneak in, then.

He just hopes to God that Erza won't see him inside the dorm or he'll be dead, considering that no men are allowed o enter.

…

Juvia hears a loud knock on her door.

Seriously? Couldn't she just like suffer in silence with only herself?

She stands up, with her blanket wrapped around her as if she's feeling cold.

She twists the knob and she sees Gray standing in front of her. His dark hair is now topped with some snowflakes and he looks cute with it.

Juvia then remembers that this is the same man whom she's crying about so she steels herself and says, "What do you need, Gray-sama?"

"Please let me in. Erza might see me."

Although she doesn't really want to do this right now, she lets him in out of concern.

"Please, just go away," she says with tears stinging in her eyes.

Gray sits down on her couch and says firmly, "No. We need to talk."

_Shit shit shit do not screw this up, _Gray thinks as he tries to sound like he's calm when in fact he's panicking internally right now.

"Please," Juvia pleads as tears start to stream down her face.

"Juvia," says Gray, "I need to tell you something."

This is also what he said right before he was attacked by those dragons after the Grand Magic Games and she gets a wave of déjà vu.

"Please, Juvia hopes you're not going to hurt her," she says.

"I won't," he says.

_God, dipshit, you are cheesy. A FUCKING I WON'T?! _He thinks to himself.

"Juvia," he says her name again. "Lyon wasn't the one giving you gifts."

The water mage is shocked about what she heard and right now, she is unable to say anything.

So, she just listens.

_Seriously, Gray? What next is there to say?_

"It was… it was…" _fuck. What now? No no no no. _"It was me."

Juvia is yet again surprised and still unable to answer him.

Gray takes a deep breath and this time, talks very fast: "It was me but of course, I was too shy to give them all personally to you and so I asked a favor from Lyon, figuring out it will be safe since he confirmed to me that he already moved on from you and I asked him if he could just leave a little sign with each gift; a sign that will signify that he really is the giver of it so that you wouldn't suspect a thing from me that's when he came up with the butterfly with each gift and then you showed up at my door crying and, Juvia, I FELT VERY MISERABLE SEEING YOU IN THAT STATE and I was very guilty and last night I talked to Lyon and he told me to talk to you and shit, I wasn't going to if not for the fact that you're crying BECAUSE OF ME and I feel horrible by making a woman cry. Please, forgive me."

He pants and Juvia sits dumbfounded about what she just heard and her mind is still processing things.

"Gray-sama has been giving Juvia gifts after all this time?" she asks and he simply nods, his face turning red.

After this is a blur. A lot of "I'm sorry" is said by Gray in which it is followed by a lot of "It's okay" by Juvia and she could help going near him to pat his shoulder and eventually taking his hand for reassurance that it really is fine now; that things are clarified.

Until they are looking at each other eye to eye and they slowly lean closer, like they're being pulled by a magnet and their lips touch—Gray's are cold like winter and Juvia's are warm like lukewarm water.

The touch of their lips speaks thousands of words they cannot say, riddled with a hundred feelings they are trying to pour out in a single kiss because you may never have this rare opportunity of intimacy with someone.

Juvia gives Gray her last Christmas present by telling him she loves him.

And the ice mage also gives her the last gift for this holiday; a thing he's never been strong enough to say but brave enough to dive too deep and die for her just to show her what he feels.

He leans close to her ear and whispers three words that are like music to Juvia's ears and they gaze, smiling at each other.

**THE END.**

**AN: **Thank you for reading! This was originally my gift for my receiver; as I am participating in the Fairy Tail Secret Santa thing in Tumblr. I've been updating my receiver on the said dates on the story and I considered posting it here on this website for a little Gruvia special or something. Gaaaaah sorry if the kiss was horrible haha I am an idiot and I hope ya'll liked it. Please tell me what you think^^


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